May v Corbyn peaks with 3.4m

The election special, in which Jeremy Paxman grilled prime minister Theresa May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn individually, peaked with 3.4m (15%) in the five minutes from 9.30pm.

This was higher than the peak for David Cameron and Ed Miliband on 26 March 2015, which reached 3m.

The 2017 event was also marginally higher overall than the previous showdown, which averaged 2.7m in a 9pm to 10.30pm slot.

However, this year’s event received a lower overall share - 12.4% - compared to the 13.2% who watched in 2015.

The Sky News-produced programme, which included questions from a studio audience moderated by Faisal Islam, was simulcast by the dedicated news channel. It averaged 415,000 (1.8%) compared to 322,000 (1.6%) in 2015.

The Battle for Number 10 drew an older audience.

Some 80.4% of the audience on Sky News and 61.2% of viewers on C4 were over the age of 45.

The event also helped C4 beat BBC1, BBC2 and C5 over the evening, according to Barb data provided by overnights.tv.

Windfall Films’ two-parter bowed out with an average of 2.9m (13.9%), after it opened last week with a slot-winning 3.4m (17.6%).

The film was well ahead of the 2.1m (10%) who watched the first three-part run in a Wednesday 9pm slot in July 2014.

The Crossrail doc again beat BBC1, which averaged 1.8m (8%) for the penultimate episode of Doctor in the House, and C5, which scored 570,000 (3.2%) for North American scripted acquisition The Kennedys: Decline and Fall.

However, C4’s political programming couldn’t match ITV’s mix of soaps and entertainment.

Coronation Street secured 7.3m (31.8%) between 9pm and 9:30pm, while Britain’s Got Talent found 8.5m (38.4%) for the live semi-finals between 7:30pm and 9pm and 6.5m (28.6%) for the results show.